§1. My dad was a professional basketball player in Germany, as his father had been before him, and I went to watch many of his games when I was a kid. You might think that seeing so many matches would give me a love of the sport, but it actually had the opposite effect. I loved telling my friends how good my dad was, of course, especially when he won a game, but I used to take a book with me to read instead of watching.

§2. Starting secondary school, I was still two years away from being a teenager but was already two metres tall. Seeing my height, my sports teacher asked if I’d be interested in training with the basketball team. Even though I enjoyed the session, I thought I’d need to develop my skills before I took part in a real match, but the teacher had more confidence in me than I did. It took me a while to agree, but a few weeks later I found myself playing against a team from another school. Mum and Dad coming to watch didn’t really help  — it made me more nervous. But it was OK in the end!

§3. For the next four years, I practised every day and did really well, even joining an adult team before I moved abroad to a special sports academy in the USA when I was fifteen. The coach there trains Olympic basketball players, and it was fantastic to work with him. However, I can’t say I enjoyed my first experience of living far from my parents. At home, I’d never been able to spend much time with my friends due to all the training, so that wasn’t such a change for me. I got used to everything about my new life in the end, though, and my English improved quickly too!

§4. I turned professional at the age of eighteen, three years after arriving in the USA. I’d been taller than most players in the professional league since I was fifteen, but had been much too light for my height, so had to get that right first. My coach already knew a team that would take me while I was still at college, so I joined them and have never regretted it.